Value your vote

Adam Flores
September 10, 2012

Barack Obama no longer excites us, and Mitt Romney simply bores us. That is what talking heads on cable news networks and opinion writers for newspapers have been saying about us, the youth vote. They think that we will just sit in our dorms playing N64 instead of taking a few minutes to vote.

I don’t buy it.

Every presidential election we are told, “This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes!” To be honest, they are right. Every election matters. Every vote matters. Including yours.

After huge increases among youth voter turnout the last two presidential election cycles, why should we stop? There are students across this country who are already declaring their intent not to vote because the state in which they reside or attend school is predetermined to be for either Romney or Obama. Keep in mind that despite record turnout four years ago, only 51 percent of people aged 18-29 voted. An entire precinct, county, state and election can change if the other 49 percent votes.

Voting is one of the easiest ways to fulfill your civic responsibility. The Gephardt Institute for Public Service, along with Student Union, has made it easier for you. Before the election on Nov. 6 everyone needs to register to vote, and if you are planning to vote in Missouri, the deadline to register is Oct. 10. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, we will be holding a campus-wide voter registration drive to make sure that everyone is ready to vote this fall.

Do not be fooled into thinking that because your state driver’s license or ID card says California, Texas or North Carolina, you will not be able to register in Missouri. You can. And if you want to register to vote in California, Texas, North Carolina or whichever state you are from, we can help you register absentee as well. Finally, you must also register again if your address changed from the last time you registered.

For many of you this is the first election in which you will be allowed to vote. Maybe it is the first election you decided you will vote. Or maybe you are even a seasoned voter. No matter the status of your vote-ginity, I leave you with this final plea: let’s prove everyone wrong.

My decision not to vote in the upcoming election also has meaning. It adds to the group of people who no longer vote because they have lost faith in the government.

Not voting has meaning as well.

Candy man

You can’t bring up numbers and percents in arguments about why people should vote. “The other 49% will make a difference,” and “the 2000 vote in Florida was decided by hundreds” do nothing but tell me, the individual, that my one, solitary vote, doesn’t matter. Because it doesn’t. One vote won’t make any difference. As you point out, it’s in huge numbers that it does. One way of looking at it might be that the non-voters are the smartest ones of all.